Cops: East Meadow man menaced bar with rifle

A man who had been kicked out of an East Meadow bar Tuesday returned a short time later and pointed a rifle at the bartender before being subdued by patrons, who held him for arriving police officers, Nassau County police said.

William N. Karas, 56, of 569 East Meadow Ave., East Meadow, was arrested on charges of second-degree menacing and criminal possession of a weapon, police said.

Police said the weapon was loaded, but could not immediately provide additional details about the weapon. Karas lives just a few doors down from the Paddock Pub, on East Meadow Avenue, where the incident took place about midnight, police said.

It also was not immediately clear how much time elapsed between the time Karas was kicked out of the bar, and when he returned with the gun. Police did not say how many patrons were in the bar when the incident occurred, but they said patrons managed to wrestle the rifle from Karas and hold him for officers.

Karas is scheduled for arraignment Wednesday in First District Court in Hempstead.